Community service

I spent 10 hours of volunteer work, involving myself in the American Red Cross for the blood drive. Myself and other volunteers dedicated our time and effort to support people in need. I also spent my time after school helping out with our schools spirit, and made flyers for our schools events.


From Fowler website :
" Mission: Fowler High School recognizes that each student is an individual; that all students are creative; that all students need to succeed. Therefore, Fowler High School respects the individual needs of students; fosters a caring and creative environment; and emphasizes the social, emotional, physical, intellectual development of each student."

  "The American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. The American Red Cross offers services in five other areas: community services that help the needy; communications services and comfort for military member and their family members; the collection, processing and distribution of blood and blood products; educational programs on preparedness, health, and safety; and international relief and development programs." (www.redcross.com, 1/22/15)

I had many task to do for this blood drive.  The first task, I went around the school and asked all the students, including staff to sign up for the blood drive. I stayed after school and hung flyers around, to inform everyone that we will be having a blood drive. The flyers included the date and time we will be having this event and how important it is to donate and help someone in need. There were plenty of students and staff that were kind enough to sign up and actually follow through and show to make a donation.

On the day of the drive,  I was in charge of escorting people to their appointments. I also had to make sure they understood what they signed up for, asked if they've done a donation before, and I gave them the proper fluids and snacks to help them stay hydrated. i made sure that they felt safe. I talked to each individual about any questions they wanted me to clarify with them, made sure they were not nervous about anything and i kept them calm.

During this event i had to learn some very important rules, simple but very important. There is a bell that sits on the desk, and is not to be used unless someone is in need of help. The bell lets people know that someone needs medical attention fast. So it is important that no one plays around with the bell because it causes mixed signals and is also a distraction to the workers and is not something to be careless and insensitive to. I also learned that when a patient is done being assisted, the volunteer is supposed to make sure that they sit down and take a break for at least five minutes so that they don't pass out. If the patient does not cooperate with the instruction that are being asked of them, you are to make it mandatory that they immediately sit down. When it comes to beverages and snacks, you should always be cautious about the amount you give each person, so that you have enough to give to each person who is being assisted. And when in a working environment, you need to make sure that you know that you can control the way you retaliate to your peers if a bad situation occurred.

One memorable experience was a when a fellow student volunteer rang the bell out of curiosity. When the bell was rung, the workers immediately came rushing over to assist. It was amazing to see how involved and how fast their reaction was to the bell ringing. It showed how professional and serious they are about peoples aid. The student volunteer was asked not to do it again.

This was an amazing experience being able to help someone who really needs it. I am very proud of my peers that helped out as well as myself, we reached are goal of donations and even went over which was more than needed but a good source of team, work and it shows the effort that was put into this event. I feel as though we did an outstanding job and was very pleasing. Community services is a good way to get involved with the community and have fun while doing so. I would recommend my community service to anyone who wants to help and is serious about our community.